Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-08-20

are my vile believe that tne EVIL VIII 20 |
out of me, and shall grow good. Yield, and |
never shall woman have had such husband |
as | viii be to you. | viii make your life |
soft and beautiful to you as women love life |
to be- You shall have everything that money |
can buy and power bring Yield for ysur
uncle's sake, and for the sake of the great |
love bear you"
As he spoke he was slowly drawing nearer |
Bessie, whose face wore half fascinated ex-
preston As he came the wretched woman
gathered herself together and put out her
hand TO repulse him. NO no, she cried, Il
hate you'll cannot he false to him, living or
dead | shall xiii myself know l shall
He made no answer, but simply came
always nearer, till at last his strong arms
closed round her shrinking form and drew
her TO him as easily as though she were
babe And then all at once she seemed to
Weld That embrace was the outward sign
of his cruel mastery, and she struggled no
more, mentally or physically
"Win you marry me, darling-win you
marry mef" he whispered, with his lips SO
close to the golden curls that jess, straining
her ears outside, could only just catch the
words:
ChN oultpoc btlt 5iitth VIII
kill me"
He strained her 10 his heart and kissed her
beautiful face again and again and next mo-
niefIt jess heard the footsteps OF the return
ing sentry and saw him leave 90 of her
Jamie, too, caught her by the hand and
dragged her away from the wall and in ten
seconds more she was once more ascending
the hillside toward the Hottentot'S kennel
She had gone to find out how matters lay,
and she had, indeed. found out To attempt
to portray the fury, the Indignation and the
thirst to he avenged upon the fiend who had
attempted to murder her and her lover, and
had bought her dear sisters honor ut the
price of her innocent old uncle's life, would
be impossible All her WEAKNESS was forgot
ten: she was mad with what she had seen and
heard, with the knowledge of what had been
done and what was about to be done She
even forget her passion in it, and swore that
Muller should never marry Bessie while she
lived to prevent it. Had she been bad
woman she might have seen herein an oppor-
tunity, for Bessie once married to Muller.
John would be free to marry her, but the
idea never even entered her mind. What
ever jess errors NAV have been, she was a
self sacrificing, honorable woman, and would
have died rather than take such an advan-
tage Presently they reached the shelter
again and crept in.
Light candle, said jess
Jantje fumhed about and finally struck
match The bit of candle they had been
using, however, was nearly burned out, so
from the rubbish in the corner he produced
box full of lends" some of them three or
four inches long jess, in that queer sort of
way in which tritles do strike when the
mind is undergoing a severe strain, instantly
remembered that for years she had been I'M
able to discover what became of the odd
pieces of the candles used in the house Now
the mystery was explained
"Now go outside and leave me l want to
think"
The Hottentot obeyed. and seated there
upon the heap of skins, her forehead resting
on her hand and her fingers run through her
silky hair now wet with the rain, she began
to review the position. 1t was evident to her
that Frank Muller would be rs good as his
word. She knew him too well to doubt it for
moment. Ii Bessie did not marry him he
would murder the old man, as he had tried to
murder her and John, only this time judi
cially, and then abduct her afterward
Bessie was the only price that be was pre-
pared to take in exchange for her uncle's
life. But it was impossible to allow Bessie to
be so sacrificed; the thought was horrible to
her
How, then, was it to be prevented She
thought again of going down and confronting
Frank Muller, ami openly accusing him of her
attempted murder, only, however, to dismiss
the idea. Who would believe her and if they
did believe, what good would il dos She
would only he imprisoned and kept out of
harms way, or possibly murdered without
further ado. Then she thought of attempting
to communicate with her uncle and Bessie, to
tell them that John was. so far as she knew
alive, only to recognize the impossibility of
doing so now that the sentry was back Be
sides, what object could be servedl The
knowledge that John was alive might, it is
true, nerve up Bessie to resist Muller. but
then the sole result would be that the old man
would be shot. Dismissing this from her
mind, she began to consider whether they
could obtain assistance Alas! it was i'm
possible The only people from whom she
could hope for help would be the natives, and
now that the Beers had triumphed over the
English (for this much she had gathered from
her captOrs and from Jantiel. it was very
doubtful if they would dare to help her Be
sides, at the best it would take twenty four
hours to collect force, and that would be too
late. The thing was hopeless. Nowhere
could she see a ray of light
What, she said aloud to herself, what is
there in the world that will stop man like
Frank Muller"
And then all of an instant the answer rose
up in her brain as though through an inspira-
ton:
Death
Death, and death alone, would stop him
For minute she kept the idea in her mind
till she was famIllarized with it, and then it
was driven out by another that followed
swiftly on its track Frank Muller must die,
and die before the morning light By no
other possible means could the GorCtian knot
be cut and both Bessie and her old uncle saved
If he were dead he could not marry Bessie,
and if he died with the warrant unsigned
| their uncle could not he executed That was
the answer to the riddle, and a terrible one it
was.
But after all it was Just that he should die,
for had he not murdered and attempted muir
| ders Surely if ever a man deserved a swift
and awful doom it was Frank Muller.
| And so this apparently helpless girl
| crouched upon the ground torn and hespat-
tered fugitive in the miserable hiding hole of
a Hottentot, arraigned the powerful leader OF
men before the tribunal of her conscience
and without pity, if without wrath, passed
| upon him sentence of extinction.
| But who was to be- the executioneri A
| dreadful thought flashed into her mind and
made her heart stand still, but she dismissed
| it She had not come TO that yet. Her eyes
wandered round the kennel and lit upon
Jantje's assegais and sticks in the corner. and
| then she got another inspiration. Jantje
| should do the deed. John had told her one
| day-told her. when they were sitting to-
gether i'll 1.-The Palatial" at Pretoria-the
whole of Jantie's awful story about the mas
sacre Of his relatives by Frank Muller twenty
| years before. of which, indeed, she already
knew something 1t would be most fitting
| that this fiend should he removed off the face
| of the earth by the survivor of those unfortu
mates. There would be little poetic justice
about that and it Is SO rare in the world
| But the question was, would he do it, The
| little man was a wonderful coward, that sh'
knew, and had great terror of Beers, anc